Sports-television visionary, entrepreneurial genius, original keeper of the historical flame that fueled the rise of the NFL's mighty iconic shield. Meet pioneer pro football filmmaker Ed Sabol, a finalist for a bronze bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is 94.

By birth and by mind-set, underneath the classic green-and-gold garb, the Green Bay Packers coach is pure Pittsburgh. They can take the boy out of the 'Burgh but they cannot remove the iron-city toughness and resolve from the man the very essence of Mike McCarthy.

A.J. Hawk, the Green Bay Packers' less-celebrated linebacker with shoulder-length hair, is a realist who believes in soaring away from a celebrity-driven culture and those fame-seeking posers who play professional football.

John Kuhn, fullback turned folk hero around these frozen parts, is the only current Green Bay Packer who owns a Super Bowl ring. In "Title-town, USA," the ring is the thing. Kuhn never wears his bling he wants to earn his ring.

The Chicago Bears had a real emergency Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, which is Caleb Hanie's job description. Otherwise, the undrafted 25-year-old quarterback out of Colorado State would have ended up a footnote, at best, in the lore comprising the NFL's greatest rivalry.

The Seattle Seahawks soared the last couple of weeks. Sunday, the NFC West upstarts with the league's greatest roster transition this season fluttered back to earth, falling with a playoff thud at frozen Soldier Field.

Brandon Stokley has been knocked around, knocked silly and knocked out many times by his lifetime mistress football. Playing for his dad in the '90s in college, Stokley suffered a concussion one Saturday and could not recall the score at halftime. He played the second half, a risk that today is medically verboten.

"They just closed down Bourbon Street because of you!" The shout came from an unidentified Seahawks teammate who strolled past Marshawn Lynch's stall in Seattle's euphoric locker room last Saturday, moments after the young running back sent the New Orleans Saints marching home in defeat 41-36.

Matt Hasselbeck stood outside the Seattle Seahawks locker room with his three children and preached what all good defenses and dads do: containment. The New Orleans Saints could have used that lesson Saturday.